Figure 3.

Upregulation of beclin-1 partly contributed to cell death. (A) Double immunostaining showed the co-localization of beclin-1 and caspase-3 in brains
from the control (a) and MCAO group (4 h, 24 h, 72 h, b-d). Almost all cells with strong LC3 staining were labeled with beclin-1(e). (B) Quantification of beclin-1+, caspase-3+ and beclin-1+/caspase-3+ cells. (C) Western blot analysis of protein levels of beclin-1, LC3 and β-actin in the rat
cortex and striatum derived from the control and MCAO group. Optical densities of
respective protein bands were analyzed with Image J 1.42q and normalized to the loading
control (β-actin). Results were expressed as mean ± SD from four independent experiments.
*P < 0.001 vs. control group, #P < 0.001 vs. the previous time point. Cont: control group. Scale bars = 50 μm.